Prohibition -- Moral and ethical aspects; Prohibition -- United States
They are as determined to secure compulsory Sabbath Day observance laws
as they are to obtain Prohibition laws; and wherever and whenever you
find a movement for one, you invariably find, sooner or later, a demand
for the other. Prohibition and Sunday laws go hand in hand. In fact,
they result from the same cause--the desire to control individuals; the
application in civil law of the fallacious theory that it is "the social
right of every individual that every other individual shall act in every
respect exactly as he ought to act." Nothing is further from the truth
of the principle of free and popular government, and nothing so
destructive of the rights and privileges of man.
Sunday laws can find no justification except in a church-and-state
system of government which essays to establish a practice grounded in
religious belief; to fix upon a particular rest-day, and say to
individuals how they shall observe that day. A compulsory law for Sunday
or Sabbath observance is equivalent to a law for compulsory baptism, or
compulsory church service, or the support of the church: in like manner,
sumptuary laws that determine what one may not drink, may extend to
defining what one may eat, =_ad infinitum_=, until a thousand and one
articles of food and drink are "unlawful"--articles of diet and
consumption that to a large proportion of the citizens may seem
harmless, if not, indeed, beneficial. The Sabbath law says to you what
you must religiously do; and if it may extend to the observance =of a
day=, it may extend to =all= religious duties and practices without
exception: the Prohibition law tells you what you may not =drink=, and if
it presumes the right to prescribe in the matter of drink, it may extend
to the matter of determining what is fit, and what is not fit, =to
eat=--and it could continue until a Dietary List and a Fashion Plate had
been fixed by legal enactment. It is not difficult to see that the
Sunday law and Prohibition are quite identical in character; the source
of their origin must be the same: at least, it is plain that their
introduction and operation =in civil government= is destructive of
personal freedom and choice.
Sumptuary Laws Increasing
These restrictions by law are eternally increasing, so that it has
become almost impossible for a citizen of the republic to live a single
day without violating one or more laws. In almost every relation of life
the conduct of the American is minutely regulated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account